After stepping inside, Roland, Eduardo, and Kylie stood still for a few moments for their eyes to adjust. If it wasn't for the sliver of light coming in from the pried-open door, total darkness would thrive. As it was, they could barely make out the shapes of each other, as well as a few empty and rusting grocery isles. The cold and musky air seemed almost alive it was so thick and aged, breathing in their faces. Walking further into the shop, the darkness seemed to engulf the small team, as the light and sounds of the outside world faded. Now, in this new silence, a constant dripping sound could be heard.
Something moved quickly behind them, Eduardo the only one to catch it out of the corner of his eye. Eduardo let out a scream that pierced through the dark silence as he pulled his blaster and prepared to take aim at whatever had moved. The hairs on the back of Kylie's and Roland's necks had seemed to stand further on end than possible as they turned and drew their blasters as well. Kylie then saw the movement, too. She took aim and waited until their attacker got close enough to the light of the doorway.
With a small smirk aimed at Eduardo, Kylie lowered her weapon. "Nice reaction time, Eduardo. Without you here, we all might have been horribly killed by the scared little rat." Eduardo's face reddened as a small rat skitted out from it hiding place. Roland did his best not to smile as he turned back around to the gaping darkness.
A small creaking sound came from somewhere in the back of the store. The three of them turned as one to face the direction from where it came. Slowly they walked deeper into the store, their eyes all but lost in the encompassing darkness, save for the illuminating glow of Kylie's PKE meter. The dripping sound they had been following multiplied suddenly, seeming to come from all around them now.
Behind her, Kylie heard one of the drips end in a small splat, and Eduardo calling out quietly. "Oh, man, something's in my hair!" He reached up to wipe it out, and noticed it wasn't simply a liquid, it was gooey. "Eeew! What the heck is this?"
Kylie suddenly felt a sense of alarm, as if there was something she wasn't noticing. Trying to keep her calm, Kylie adjusted the PKE meter to focus on other ghosts as well, instead of just Garrett's reading. The readings quickly flew off the scale. Garrett's single blip was now accompanied by countless others, in front, behind, all around them. A large blob of ectoplasm landed on her PKE meter and began running down her hand. It took all her strength not to drop the meter and scream. She looked up at the ceiling of the shop, noticing then that it was too dark to see it.
"Aww! Now it's sticking to my hands!"
Kylie whispered to Roland and Eduardo, her fear now showing in her shaky breathing. "Hey, you guys have your flashlights?" Eduardo used his one hand to feel around, then shrugged. Roland pulled his out and flicked it on. Kylie squinted in the new light. Panic showed clearly on her face as she motioned for him to point it at the ceiling.
All three looked up. Countless Marinzeans were crouching on the catwalks and broken boards that used to be the shop's ceiling. The Ecto-Marinzeans' low laughter and hissing sounds were soon drowned out by the loud gasps of Kylie and Roland, and a scream from Eduardo. The Marinzeans dove from their hiding places above and charged the Ghostbusters. Wasting no time, Eduardo, Kylie, and Roland whipped out their proton blasters and fired at the closest.
Kylie yelled to the team over the firing, "There's too many to keep back with our guns, and we've only got one trap. How're we gonna hold them off?"
"I think that's the point," Roland said, "We're not supposed to be able to."
"Well, we can at least give these spooks a fight," Eduardo said, hoping speaking through grit teeth made him look a bit more confident than he felt. "Maybe we can hold them off long enough to reach the front door."
"Which way's that?" Roland asked, realizing they had no idea where they'd come from, due to the rush of the surprise attack and the overwhelming darkness parted only slightly by the light of their proton lasers. Realizing Roland's point, neither team mate answered.
A constant stream of Ecto-Marinzeans were advancing toward them, more and more finding a gap in the proton streams around them. Eduardo felt a hard blow to the back of his knee, and his leg gave way, his hand letting go of his blaster to brace against his fall. Now disarmed, the group of Marinzeans quickly pulled his pack off and tossed it aside. As the Ecto-Marinzeans' hands reached out for him, grabbing him with their slimy fingers, memories of his last Marinzean encounter streamed through his mind. He remembered the horrible pain of his body transforming, how his humanity and his own life-force had started to ebb away. Determined not to let them take him again, Eduardo quickly stood up and grabbed the nearest Ecto-Marinzean, taking him by surprise. With a guttural yell of pure rage, he picked up and threw him into a group of five others charging at him. Another small group advanced towards him. Eduardo faced them, teeth grit, body pumping with adrenaline, ready to destroy them each individually or all at once.
The first one reached him. Eduardo put all his rage into his right fist as he hurled it at the creature. The bluish-green Marinzean reached out with lightening speed and caught the oncoming fist in his own giant claw-like grip. Eduardo fought even more angrily against the demon now, but began losing his rage as he realized the ghost's grip was too powerful to break. Confidence gave way once again to panic as the Marinzean tightened its grip and Eduardo's hand gave a muffled pop.
Eduardo gave a sharp intake of breath as pain began to run through his hand. The Ecto-Marinzean let go, and Eduardo held his sore hand, forgetting the Marinzeans surrounding him. The reminded him of their presence once again when one lashed out with its claws into his left shoulder. Eduardo winced and stumbled once, trying to get away and then realized they were now all around him. Fear took over as another lashed out, this time at his back. Then another struck. And another. And another. The Ecto-Marinzeans were all over him now, pummeling him left and right. He was on the ground now, though he wasn't sure when he fell, and the blows were still coming. He let out one final cry of pain and utter fear before a final blow to the head put him out.
With on down, the Ecto-Marinzeans gathered together to take Kylie and Roland. Kylie zapped them back with tremendous accuracy, her arms starting to ache from the tension running through her muscles while she fired, but as the number of the swarm increased she realized she wouldn't be able to hold them off much longer. As a last ditch effort, she grabbed her trap, held it level to her chest, pointed it towards the swarm of oncoming Marinzeans and hit the trap's switch. The first and second row of them were sucked in instantly before the trap closed automatically to prevent going past its maximum holding capacity. Kylie quickly threw the trap aside and picked up her blaster to continue firing.
One of the nearby Ecto-Marinzeans eyed the fallen ghost trap carefully, to be sure it wouldn't open again. Satisfied, it picked up the trap and hurled it at Kylie. Like a large metal Frisbee, the trap flew through the air and struck Kylie in the temple. A small moan of pain and she was down. The Ecto-Marinzeans quickly disarmed her and gathered her in their arms.
Roland had seen Eduardo and Kylie's painful defeats. Hoping to avoid a confrontation that would only end with a bruised and bloody defeat, adding to it the fact that he was now vastly outnumbered with their concentration focusing only on him, be lowered his saddened head and turned off his blaster. The Ecto-Marinzeans waited for him to remove his proton pack, then grabbed him and his teammates. In the pitch blackness around them he couldn't see much, but could make out that they were dragging the three of them to the back of the store and down a flight of stairs. Roland's mind was racing. He couldn't understand what Garrett would be doing here if all the Marinzeans were here too. Was it possible he actually was siding with these things? Roland frantically tried to memorize every step they went down in the total darkness, planning any kind of escape he could. He'd make sure the three of them got out of here. With or without Garrett.
* * *
Garrett's claustrophobia was lessened by the fact that he was currently having trouble remembering his own name, let alone that he didn't like enclosed places, such as the one he was in right now. The room was dark, damp, and earthy, and gave him the feeling that he was in a tomb. Being a ghost he found that sort of ironic. He could hear a dripping sound echoing throughout the small dark room. In a realization that left him even more depressed, he found it wasn't water from the ceiling making the sound as he had thought. It was him. Slime dripped from his pores and onto the floor. He had fought against Slimer's power for as long as he could, but in the end he had lost. He brought his hands up in front of his face and saw his two large claws, which he clenched into fists of rage.
This new Slimer may be powerful and smart, Garrett thought, but already he's making mistakes. He believed that because he had the power to change my body, he'd also be able to change my mind. If he could make one mistake, he's bound to make more.
The door to the small room opened, and Garrett could make out the forms of the Ecto-Marinzeans carrying something. Three somethings. And he's reunited the four of us? Garrett thought as his ecto-covered bony face grinned. I believe we've seen mistake number two. One of the Ecto-Marinzeans walked in and grabbed Garrett, then herded him along with his semi-conscious teammates deeper into the caverns.
Garrett muttered lowly to himself, "And they didn't catch Egon? That's mistake number three. Slimer's gone strike out pretty soon." His three friends perked up at the mention of Slimer, and Garrett quickly filled them in as they were led down the tunnels. Garrett just hoped that whatever plan Egon had, he would do it soon, before it was too late.
* * *
Egon let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair. The contraption was about the size of a large television. It's only purpose in creation was to separate the Marinzean leader and Slimer back into two separate entities. Once it had done that, both ghosts would be placed in their own ghost trap. Then they simply let Slimer out of the one trap, and send the Marinzean to the containment unit. It had taken him days, weeks, and a lot of spare parts to make. He popped couple of M & M's in his mouth as a reward, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
But only for a second. As tired as he felt, he didn't want to stop until he was finished. Besides, he thought, with any luck I can get Slimer back soon enough to give the team a little surprise when they return with Garrett. That made him stop. Garrett. He was finally near bringing Slimer back to normal, and now he was going to need to work on something to reverse Garrett to his true form.
Egon shook his head. NO use worrying about the next task until the first was complete. Speaking of which... Egon tapped into a nearby computer, its shell long off and missing, which was just as well, since he was always taking it apart and tinkering with it. Using computer, Egon did a quick scan of the containment unit for Slimer. After a few seconds, the computer's reply appeared; "TARGET NOT FOUND". Frowning in frustration, Egon tried to reason why Slimer wouldn't be found. After a moment, he scanned the unit for the Marinzean leader thinking that perhaps Slimer's transformation had left the Marinzean's energy trace a dominant one. Once again, the computer's reply was the same. "TARGET NOT FOUND".
Egon was trying to keep his calm as best he could. He reviewed the computer's archives, looking for the point at which Slimer was placed in the containment unit a few weeks back. Finding it, he told the computer to trace Slimer's reading from then until now, or until the trace is lost. It didn't go far, much to Egon's dismay. The trace was lost the same day, the exact same moment in fact, that Garrett came out of the containment unit.
Egon's mind raced. He stood up, then, not realizing why he stood up, he went to sit back down. He froze, his head spinning. A thought came to him. He stood over the computer and searched for Slimer's signal, only instead of searching the unit, he set the range for all of Manhattan. The search took a few seconds, and the result was what he desperately hoped it would not be; his location was also where Garrett was, where the kids had gone.
He lunged across the desk for a two way radio set, with frantic speed as if he had only mere seconds to act, which he believed may be the case. "Hello? Hello!" Egon spoke, almost yelled, into the radio. "Is anybody there? Come in!" Egon grabbed some traps and his proton equipment, his arms sweeping across the desk...
Egon's machine, a machine he spent so many weeks making, a machine meant to bring his friend back from the Marinzean's clutches, a machine that was to be used that day, fell off the desk, landing on the floor with an impact that sent shattered pieces flying. Dr. Spengler hardly even took notice as Slimer's salvation fell apart.
Egon had used this particular piece of proton equipment he reached for once before, when battling a group of vampires feeding on people's laughter. It contained a built-in radar screen, along with a targeting system and headlights. He strapped the massive pack on his back, and immediately felt the pain reach up his leg to his knee. Wincing, he grabbed his cane, then grabbed some traps and limped downstairs. Janine was downstairs behind her desk, reading a romance novel, one of many she had at home. Egon walked up to her, making sure to appear calm and not alarm her. "Janine, I, uh, need to borrow your car for a minute. Going out for a pizza."
"Pepperoni?"
"Erm, yes."
Still keeping her eyes glued to the pages of the romance novel, not once looking up to see him clad in some of his more powerful Ghostbusting armor, she dug her keys from her pocket and tossed them at Egon. Catching them in the air, he spun around and headed for the car. He tossed the equipment in the car, got in, and drove off at top speed, the tires squealing loudly as he shot out of the large double doors of the firehouse. Janine, startled by the sudden racket, looked up from her book for the first time, to see her car gunning out of headquarters.
Returning to her book, she raised her eyebrows and mumbled to herself, "Must be really hungry tonight."
* * *
The Marinzeans had been busy. Underneath of the empty grocery store were already dozens of carefully carved networked tunnels. Roland noticed, as he and his friends were led, hands bound by thick rope, that the tunnels were carved with much more care the further down they went than above, smoothed out to the point of almost being polished. Occasionally symbols of some sort would appear in the wall, most of the time next to an arch or doorway, most likely, he assumed, to inform them where they were.
Garrett was thankful that his friends were once again with him, knowing he was less likely to crack under the pressure of going deep under the earth, the tunnel walls, even though fairly large, still feeling uncomfortably narrow. Instinctively his chest tightened up, the air pushing its way out of his lungs. The tunnels were extremely dark, each torch spaced a great distance away from each other. The Marinzeans' eyes, including Garrett's own, were well adapted to the near pitch blackness. He was grateful he was the only one with such good night vision, that his teammates couldn't see his shallow breathing, his worried expression, his clawed hands in strained fists...
"Hey man," Eduardo nudged Garrett's spiny arm and spoke quietly. "You okay?"
Apparently he'd put too much faith in the darkness. Garrett did his best to act relaxed and put on his smirk. "Why wouldn't I be? You know I love kicking ghost butt."
"Well, first off, we haven't really been doing much kicking today. Actually, they did a pretty good job of kicking ours. There was very little kicking done on our part. And secondly, we all know that you're acrophobic."
"Why would you think I'm afraid of heights??"
"Oh. Um, I don't, I was talking about-"
A large clawed arm came out and struck him on the side of his badly bruised head. "Shutting up, shutting up," Eduardo said quickly, putting his hands to his head, trying to cradle the pain swelling inside his entire skull.
The small band of Ecto-Marinzeans led Roland, Kylie, Eduardo, and Garrett through a brightly lit tunnel, filled with enormous arches, each designed with intricate patterns. The tunnel spilled out into a large circular room. The walls here were not only polished, but colored too, mostly with different shades of red, brown and black. On the opposite end of the room was an ornately carved throne, painted deep black. The throne was exceptionally large, and when Kylie first glimpsed the short, green gelatinous mass that was Slimer sitting upon it, she almost burst out laughing. Almost, but not quite. Not when she saw the face, foreign from anything Slimer ever wore; evil, yet calm, as if it were waiting for the right time to unveil.
The Ecto-Marinzeans that had led the Ghostbusters into the room exited to leave them to their master, all but two, who each to a side of the doorway, standing guard. The two guards, Kylie noticed, Kylie noticed, were dressed in raggedy armor, a sign of higher class, she figured. Kylie's eyes wandered back to the throne, and noticed for the first time four pillars, two on each side of the throne, painted the same deep black as the throne. A circle of unlit candles were placed around each pillar. Kylie looked back towards her friends who were also staring at the pillars.
Slimer's deep, strong voice cur though the team, snapped their attention back to their once friend. "Greetings. I'm pleased to see you all here, you're compassion for your freakish friend here," Slimer gestured towards Garrett, "touching...and predictable. It's unfortunate that I can't use you all at once. Spengler will have to wait his turn. No matter. Once I've gained the energy from the four of you, Egon will be no match for me. And once the Ghostbusters are out of the way, no one can stop our race from thriving on your glorious planet. Guards, position them on the pillars."
The guards advanced towards them. Kylie leaned over to Eduardo. "Quick, try talking to him."
"Me? Why me?"
"Because you're incredibly smart and unusually calm in intense situations."
Despite the impending doom, Eduardo smiled and took a step toward her. "You think so, chica?"
"Of course not!!" she yelled, pushing him back a step. "Because you're better friends with him."
Eduardo was going to protest, but decided now wasn't the best time for it. He turned around, faced Slimer and began talking frantically while simultaneously pushing off a guard who was trying to grab him. "Wait, wait! You can't do this! You...overlooked one very important thing!"
Slimer, mildly curious, lifted his hand out, motioning the guards to stop. He leaned forward slightly and asked what that one thing was.
Eduardo thought out loud frantically to himself. "What did you...uh...you, uh..." He reached in his pocket and smiled, bringing out a candy bar. "Slim-er! Chocolate!" He waved the bar around for a few seconds, until finally, a little embarrassed at his failure, he put the candy away, realizing he was wasting his time.
Slimer leaned back, disappointed and irritated, and motioned for the guards to continue. "I guarantee less pain if you come along quietly." But even as Slimer spoke, Roland and Garrett began fighting one guard while Eduardo and Kylie fought the other. "Very well," he said more to himself, seeing everyone else was too busy fighting to listen to him, "this small expenditure will be nothing compared to the energy I'll gain from the four of you." Slimer's hands reached up in the air, his eyes glowing an intense bright red. The two guards stopped fighting, threw the four Ghostbusters towards Slimer, and quickly left the room. Blinding blue-white light erupted everywhere in the room. Eduardo and Garrett double over immediately, their inside feeling like they were going to burst though their skin at any moment. Kylie tried to make it out of the room, figuring she had a better chance against the guards than Slimer's power. She only made it two steps before she felt her kneecaps would splinter apart if she continued to stand. Roland simply dropped to the floor like a rag doll.
When it was over the guards returned to drag the unconscious Ghostbusters over to the four pillars. When they had completed tying them each to a pillar, Slimer's eyes again began to glow. Slowly at first, then quickly gaining speed, each candle circled around the pillars ignited. An incense began to waft through the room from the candles and wrap around the team. Slimer's eyes, still glowing, now stared off at nothing, totally dedicating himself to the task at hand. The guards stood in front of their defenseless leader. After a few minutes, the incense formed a trail to Slimer, engulfing him in the sweet smoke. A look of deep satisfaction passed over his face, while at the same time the Ghostbusters fidgeted and sounded uncomfortable moans in their sleep. Their skin turned deathly pale while Slimer changed to a more deeper hue of green.
As their life forces continued to deplete, their sickly white skin began to tighten around their bones, bones that were changing, becoming larger and jagged. A loud pop echoed throughout the cavernous room and the unconscious Eduardo let out a cry of pain.
* * *
Egon floored the pedal on Janine's car as he neared the origin of Slimer's signal. Looking at the readouts, he judged that he'd just passed the location. Slamming on the breaks, he made a quick u-turn that left a pair of tire streaks on the street, and Janine's car up on the sidewalk with a telephone pole embedded in its side. Egon grabbed his gear, a few extra traps, and flicked on the radar screen on his pack. The exact location of Slimer appeared to be beneath him somewhere. Egon noticed the old food shop close by and ran in, thinking that perhaps the good part of Slimer chose this place to give them a clue as to where he was.
Egon rushed into the store, cane in one hand, his proton gun sporting a radar screen in the other. Checking the radar and satisfied no one was watching for him, he switched on the two light attachments on his pack. Towards the back of the store was a doorway, beyond that a flight of stairs. He took off down the steps and into a maze of underground tunnels. Using his radar as a map, he headed towards the largest clusters of Ecto-Marinzeans, hoping he would find the team before anything happened.
* * *
The Marinzean leader's power was great. In the few minutes Slimer had been absorbing the Ghostbusters' life force, head had tripled in size, his ectoplasmic bulk filling the throne much better than before. It took complete concentration to summon these powers and spells correctly, and as such he had to nearly completely lose himself in the spell. But a part of him was still aware, and let him know danger was approaching. His eyes, glowing enough to light the room up in a dark red, found his two guards in front of him awaiting a command. Slimer lifted a thick green arm that dripped slime in a small puddle on the floor, pointed in the direction Egon would be coming from. He dismissed the guards with a single sentence. "Do not underestimate him."
As the guards walked out Slimer took a look at the four Ghostbusters, a small part of himself still dedicated to concentrating on the spell. They were looking less and less human by the moment, with the exception of Garrett, already a ghost and easier to transform. A look of torture was worn on all their sweat drenched faces. Humans, the leader had found, were more difficult to transform than spirits. Although human Marinzeans brought more reward for his work, their new Marinzean forms were stronger than those of the Ecto-Marinzeans, and draining humans normally fed him much more power.
Humans yielded more power, but took more time and concentration. But a large amount of ghosts would be much easier, and still serve him well. Doing away with the Ghostbusters was simply step one, to replenish his depleted energy. After that, he would open the gates to the prison they had trapped him in for weeks, that some had been in for over a decade; he would open the containment grid, releasing hundreds upon hundreds of ghosts. Ghosts which he would drain into one of his followers. With an army that big, with his power so strong, transforming the humans would only be a matter of time.
Once again he closed his eyes and focused on the spell, hoping that perhaps he could finish Garrett off soon to make room for Egon.
* * *
Egon could see the guards coming for him on his radar screen and hoped he had enough time to find a sufficient hiding place before they arrived. Finding another tunnel was no problem, there were plenty of tunnels branching off from the one he was in. The problem was that most of those tunnels simply led to more tunnels, which in turn led to more tunnels. He feared by the time he found a room to hide in, he'd be hopelessly lost.
He decided he had to chance it. Coming to the next tunnel, which branched to the left, he crushed to sole of his cane into the wall as hard as he could. It left a small mark on the left wall of the new tunnel, so when he was coming back the mark would be on the right, showing him where to go. Satisfied, Egon ran as fast as he could, trying his best to remain silent despite that large clang of his pack.
The two guards advancing on Egon came to a stop. One of them picked up a torch hanging on the stone wall. The two guards joined hands, and each took hold of the torch. With closed eyes and a few words, a silent gust of wind blew past them and traveled down the hall. Every torch touched by the icy wind instantly extinguished.
Darkness quickly filled the tunnel Egon was running down. Before he knew what was happening, he ran full force into a stone wall, his face hitting with a thud, his nose producing a sickening crunch. For a moment he thought the lights had come back on, but then he realized it was just the dazzling array of lights and colors brought on by the tremendous pain running through his head. He hadn't even remembered falling, yet he was laying flat on his back, his eyes closed in painful thunder, trying his best to get the breath that was knocked out of him back. A warm trickling of blood was running down the side of his face. He put a hand very lightly to his nose, and was certain it was broken. His bulky proton pack was digging painfully into his back, but he didn't want to get up, felt he would pass out if he tried.
But another, different light was gradually joining with the colors swirling in his head. It was a torch, and he didn't need the radar to see who was holding it. Doing his best not to moan as he got up, but not entirely successful, he ran his hands along the tunnel wall, carefully making his way away from the light of the Marinzeans' torch. Leaning heavily now on his cane, he kept a wary eye on the quickly shrinking light.
Finally after another turn, the torch out of sight, Egon decided to risk using the lights on his pack once again. With a flick that sounded too loud in the empty halls, the surrounding corridor was quickly bathed in light. The bulky Ecto-Marinzean that stood not ten feet from him appeared to be grinning, a grin unnaturally wide die to its otherworldly large mouth. Egon held his breath for a moment that lasted till infinity, the only sound the dripping of the Marinzean's inky-violet ectoskin falling to the ground.
Egon felt foolish, not even thinking that both Marinzeans didn't need the torch at all, their eyesight accustomed to the darkness. Looks like I'm *still* walking blindly into danger, Egon thought. Light from the other Marinzean's torch began creeping through the tunnel towards them. In his moment of peril, the first time in so long that he had felt this mistake would be his last, a surge of excitement Egon hadn't felt since his years of Ghostbusting thundered through his veins. All the aches and pains of his body subsided. Egon raised his walking can around his shoulder, held it like an all-star wielding a baseball bat. Taking one step forward, Egon swung, the cane making contact with the Marinzean's chin at the height of power in his swing. With a loud crack, the Ecto-Marinzean's head flew back, slime flying back with it. The ecto creature fell to the ground, dead or unconscious Egon didn't care.
At the sound of the other approaching Ecto-Marinzean, Egon switched off his pack's lights and turned, backing up agains the wall it would round in a moment. The creature came around the corner, the light of its torch illuminating the fallen comrade. Before it had time to react, Egon captured it in a proton stream. He reached for a trap and threw it out in front of the Ecto-Marinzean. Screaming and hissing, the Marinzean was sucked into the ghost trap. Silence filled the dark, empty hall. Egon felt so exhilarated he was about to let out a primal shout of jubilation. But the threat gone, his adrenaline rush quickly subsided, leaving him fatigued, and with a thundering pain through his body worse than before. He tried to steady himself for support, one hand on his cane, the other against the wall, but the effort soon became too much. He leaned his right shoulder against the wall and slid to the ground.
Egon awoke a few minutes later, dried blood on his face. He put his hand lightly to his nose. Definitely broken, but at least the bleeding's stopped. Leaning on his cane he slowly got up, noticing a slight dent near the bottom of the cane where it made contact with the Ecto-Marinzean's face.
He switched on the radar and, after thinking that the Marinzeans could see him no matter how dark, switched on the lights as well. His encounter with the two guards had taken him slightly off course, but looking at the radar he figured he could find his way back easily enough. He followed the path carefully back toward Slimer's signal, spending the time by trying to think of what to tell Janine about the new dents in her car from his speedy U-turn.
Egon followed a final twist in the tunnel leading to a large archway. Egon could see beyond the arch a cavernous room, a throne in the far back with two pillars on each side. He saw his students, his team, tied to the pillars. He had the urge to run, untie them and get out as quickly as possible, when he suddenly noticed the figure sitting on the throne. Slimer had changed, grown much more powerful; no longer was he simply a spud of two feet tall. He now had a full body, Marinzean in shape. Egon could see the look of intense concentration on his face, as well as the results it was having on the kids; not only were they transforming, they were becoming deathly pale. Garrett was slightly transparent, his ectoplasm losing substance as his life-force was drained. Slowly Egon walked to the center of the room, pulled out his proton gun and aimed it at Slimer.
Slimer's eyes shot open, covering the room in a deep red. He looked at Egon, stared at him with a determination to destroy him. Egon couldn't think of anything to do, could only stare back with a different look, that of an animal trapped in oncoming headlights.
Slimer wasted no time, raising his hands into the air he summoned a ball of energy to form in the air. The ball grew to the size of a basketball before he threw his hands forward, the ball flying across the room towards Egon. Egon dodged right, throwing himself against the wall. The charged ball narrowly missed him, hitting instead the floor where Dr. Spengler had just been standing.
Egon quickly sent a photon blast screaming throughout the cavern at Slimer. The blast hit Slimer directly, yet instead of entrapping him, it simply refracted off, hitting the ceiling. Pieces of rock rained down around them, Slimer stood from his throne, standing a full six and a half feet tall, and let out a deep laugh. "Egon Spengler," Slimer spoke, his voice deep and clear, the grating sound gone, "I had a feeling you'd be difficult to assimilate. It saddens me that I need to destroy you, you're power would be a great addition to mine."
Slimer stopped talking and half closed his eyes, has hands stretched skyward. A green glow began to encircle him, dancing in an orb around him. As interested as Egon was in the glowing mist, he figured the ending would probably be the last spectacular sight he witnessed. He took advantage of Slimer's momentary lapse and shot out again with his proton blaster, this time at the pillar on the far left, the one with Kylie attached. The proton beam began drilling a hole into the pillar about a foot above Kylie's head. Slimer grit his teeth in annoyance, trying to decide whether to finish with the spell or to lash out at Egon to prevent further damage to the pillar. Letting out an angry grunt at losing the spell, Slimer hurled a burning green fireball Egon. Rather than dodging this time, Egon quickly figured the appropriate angle he'd need, aimed the blaster at the fireball and fired. He winced for a second, afraid the fireball would continue toward him, or reflect and hit Kylie. He opened his eyes at the large hollow boom. The fireball had hit right where Egon had started to break the pillar. The pillar crumbled and a pale Kylie fell to the floor. her body began to revert back to human form.
Furious now, Slimer hurled two more fireballs at Egon simultaneously. The first reflected at Garrett's pillar, shattering it. The second fireball went too low and to the side, searing the unconscious Eduardo's abdomen. In an instant, the smell of burnt flesh filled the room. Eduardo quickly cringed and regained consciousness. After a few seconds of fearful moaning at the sight of his charred and bloody side, he strained his arms, snapping the burning ropes. He gave himself a quick smile, feeling pretty buff for snapping the ropes, and was hoping maybe Kyile was watching. He looked over to see a half Marinzean Kylie resting on the floor. Eduardo drug Garrett over to the sleeping Kylie, then untied Roland's ropes.
Slimer's body began to shrink, his legs shortening to nothing as he hovered in the air. His rage quickly turned to worry as he realized that without all his power, he was once again vulnerable to the proton beams. He looked towards Egon with an expression of panic, only to see Dr. Spengler, a half grin on his face, aiming the blaster at him. Egon fired and Slimer barely avoided the shot. A sudden game of cat and mouse broke out between Slimer and Dr. Spengler, Egon firing like mad, and Slimer flying like crazy to avoid him. For a moment Egon could have sworn he was in the Sedgewick Hotel again.
Eduardo leaned over Kyile's resting body and gently shook her. She turned her head and murmured. Eduardo shook her once more and spoke her name. She jumped awake with a start and threw her right fist out, catching Eduardo in the jaw, sending him from his knees to the floor.
"OW! What was that?!?" Eduardo exclaimed, rubbing his jaw.
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Kylie kept repeating, her face set in a wince. Eduardo shot her a look and went to shake Garrett awake. He leaned forward to shake Garrett's shoulder, but passed right through him to the floor, forgetting Garrett was just an apparition. As Eduardo quickly pulled his hand back and rolled away, Kylie called out Garrett's name to wake him.
Garrett, his body once again in human form and only slightly transparent, sat up and looked from Eduardo to Kylie, who were both still sporting Marinzean features.
"Personally I'd say I'm the best looking of the group."
Eduardo rolled his eyes, "Whatever, Casper."
A series of loud shots rang out as Egon opened fire. Pieces of the cavern walls rained down around them. Garrett stood and said, "You guys wake Roland and get ready to get out of here. I'm gonna kick some Slime."
Egon saw Garrett behind Slimer, waving his arms as if to signal he was open. Dr. Spengler blasted a few more times at Slimer, herding him over to Garrett. When he was close enough, Garrett wrapped his ectoplasmic arms around Slimer, holding him tight. "Now!" Garrett yelled.
Egon hit Slimer with the blast, containing him, as Garrett quickly let go as not to be caught along with him. Slimer saw Egon reaching for a ghost trap, screamed in rage, and dispelled all of his power in a last ditch effort to either free himself or take them down with him. Ripples of electric power shot out from Slimer, slamming into the rock walls, rocking them. Every torch in the underground lair simultaneously extinguished, the only light in the cavern the glow of Egon's plasma blaster, sending light dancing everywhere. The ripples engulfed Garrett's ecto-form, distorting it. Garrett yelled, desperately trying to control what was happening, but he was still too new at being a ghost to hold together. Slimer looked over his shoulder and grinned as Garrett's body dissolved, leaving nothing but a floating bluish mist.
Egon had seen what had happened to Garrett, and had almost stopped firing to help him. But he knew there was little he could do. His face set in determination, he threw the ghost trap out and hit the switch. Slimer's body dissolved in a swirling mist as he fell into the trap.
The trap shut, leaving Egon in complete darkness. He switched on his pack's lights and collected the ghost trap. Kylie, Roland, and Eduardo stood and joined him, all staring at the blue floating mist that was Garrett. Roland spoke, "Let's get Garrett back to the lab, there's little we can do here."
The cavern began to shake, large chunks of rock began to fall, Slimer's spell taking its effect on the tunnels. "Yeah," Eduardo said in panic," and let's do it pronto!" Egon threw out another ghost trap and collected what was Garrett. the three of them followed Egon through the twists and turns of the tunnel, avoiding the falling ceiling as best as they could. A rock the size of a basketball fell and struck Egon on the back, shattering the headlights and dropping Egon into a heap with a surprised grunt.
After a couple of seconds, the kids were surprised to find their eyes, still slightly Marinzean in nature, adjust to the pitch blackness. Eduardo and Roland rolled the rock off Egon's back, removed his smashed proton pack, and picked him up, Roland grabbing Egon's legs and Eduardo his arms. As Eduardo stood up, a searing pain like a hundred small, burning hot knives stabbed into his burnt abdomen where Slimer's fireball had struck. Eduardo double over, dropping Egon's arms. Kylie tried to catch him, but Egon landed face first on rocky ground with a grunt. Kylie instead knelt down next to Eduardo.
"You okay?"
"I think so. Can't move him, though."
Kylie rolled Egon over to check him, and noticed the broken nose. "Edward! I think you broke Egon's nose!"
Eduardo stood again. "Hey, hey, I didn't break it. He was like that when I got him."
Kylie rolled her eyes and muttered a quiet "Yeah, right." Handing the traps to Eduardo, she picked up Egon's arms and they continued on, up through the grocery store and out to the street. Exhausted, they laid Egon on the grass and turned to face the abandoned store. Clouds of dust poured out of the boarded up windows as the underground cavern collapsed with a large crash. After a short moment of silence, a loud moaning and wailing sound came form the store, as hundreds of ghosts, free of their Ecto-Marinzean form, poured out along with the gusting clouds of smoke. Suddenly it was quiet again, every last spirit gone.
They loaded Egon into Janine's battered little car, Roland took the wheel and they headed for the firehouse. Eduardo and Kylie sat in the back, Kylie checking to see if the rock had broken anything. While Kylie carefully felt Egon's shoulder blades, Eduardo noticed Egon's nose. "Uh, hey Ky, do you think it's really broken?"
"Well, it's flat, swollen and at an unnatural angle. Yeah, I think it's broken."
They both sat there and stared at it for a few moments. "Shouldn't we, like, set it back or something?"
After a few seconds Kylie nodded, still not taking her face away from the grotesque nose. "Yeah, probably."
Eduardo nodded in return. Again they continued to simply sit and stare, as if afraid that if they looked away, the broken nose would spread to them too. Finally, Kylie reached forward. "Okay, on the count of three, ready?"
"Um, you mean our trademark 'THREE!' or actually counting to three this time?"
"Let's go with the actual count." Kylie rested her hands on Dr. Spengler's nose, and together they counted out loud. "One...two...THREE!" Kylie grasped Egon's nose firmly and pushed it back to its correct position with a nerve shattering *crack*. Egon Spengler let out an ear piercing scream that seemed to direct itself through the eardrum and go straight down the spinal cord and up again. Four blocks away, Janine ran out of the firehouse, desperately searching for the source of Egon's horrible scream.
* * *
Eduardo and Kylie walked upstairs and into Egon's lab. Roland was hard at work on a machine, cylindrical with a blaster sitting in it. He had gotten there over an hour ago to find Egon in his typical sleeping position, his head resting on his workbench, his arms clinging to some tool or schematic, as if desperately trying to bring his work with him in his dreams.
"How's this thing coming?" Eduardo asked.
"Looks like today's the day. Wanna wake Egon?"
"I would," Garrett said, standing in the back of the lab, "but I still have trouble holding pencils without them falling through my hand, let alone trying to grab his shoulder."
"Egon?" Kyile said, gently rocking his shoulder.
Egon sat up, the effects of sleep already fading from his face, which displayed a nose that was still a bit swollen and purple, as he straightened. Clearing his throat, he said, "I'm almost done-"
"It's done. I finished it this morning," Roland said, the sense of pride in his voice.
Egon turned to Garrett. "Ready?"
"I was ready a week ago."
Janine walked upstairs and stood in the doorway. "Ah, Janine," Egon greeted, "you're just in time." Janine handed him a slip of paper. "What's this?"
"The bill for the repair work for what you did to my car."
"...ouch."
"I expect the company to pay for it, of course?"
Garrett loudly cleared his throat. "Hey, remember me? I'm the guy that's tired of being composed of nothing but slime stuff."
Egon had Garrett stand in the center of the room. He hit a few switches and a low power hum filled the air. A blaster similar to their proton blasters took aim at Garrett. With a loud electrical blast, blue electricity surged out of the canon striking Garrett. After a few seconds, patches of himself began turning solid once again. When his body was no longer transparent, the canon automatically shut off.
Garrett was prepared to shout out in excitement, when he suddenly leaned forward, losing his balance. Egon and Eduardo ran forward and grabbed him, sitting him down. "One of these days I'll remember not to keep standing when we go through this," Garrett said, stripping off the ecto-suit. "I never want to see this thing again." Garrett through the suit to the floor.
"Well, that's one for two," Eduardo said, "Now for the slimeball." Eduardo held up the trap containing Slimer and the Marinzean leader. Egon took the trap and slid it into a large box like machine with two branches that led to separate ghost traps.
"Cross your fingers," Egon said as the trap clicked into place. Kylie did. The machine began to hum loudly as it sprung to life. A loud shrieking sound erupted as the trap opened and the Marinzean Slimer emerged inside the machine. Steam poured out of the box and lights flashed. The Marinzean Slimer dissolved into a ghostly mist, and the machine began rearranging the spirit into two mists, each going down one of the two branches to its ghost trap.
The humming sound slowed to a stop and the lights quit flashing. "Okay, that's it," Dr. Spengler said, reaching for the ghost trap on the right and placing it on the floor. He pressed the trap's switch as it opened to reveal Slimer, once again small and harmless. Slimer faced the team and smiled, his unnaturally large smile that covered his whole body as the team cheered.
Roland took the trap on the left and handed it to Slimer. "Perhaps you'd like the honor?"
Slimer took the trap and lead the team to the basement. He attached the trap to the containment unit and activated it. With a final thud the Marinzean leader was ejected into her new permanent home.
Upstairs the doorbell rung, and Janine could be heard answering the door. "That must be our little surprise," Eduardo said. The team lead Garrett and Slimer upstairs to the kitchen, where ten pizzas sat stacked on the table.
Janine smiled and said, "We all chipped in and got you guys a welcome back lunch."
Slimer and Garrett both approached the pizzas, eyeing each other like two feral cats defending their territory.
Eduardo muttered to the group, "I've got five bucks says Garrett eats more this time." They each took turns making a pot and placing their money on Slimer or Garrett. Egon put down then on Slimer.
Eduardo turned to Slimer and Garrett, whose stomachs' growling only further made them seem like fighting animals. "On three."
Garrett and Slimer yelled, "THREE!" and pounced.
